NBC reportedly ready to retire Jay Leno

I record the Tonight Show, and very seldom fail to get a great laugh or two or three from the opening monologue. Stick for guests I might like, or new comedians, or musical talent. I imagine Jay himself might want to get out now. Who knows?

Letterman was fine years and years ago on the Late Show, but I don't like his persona at all. Kimmel doesn't even merit these seven words.

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Leno is the biggest attacker of NBC ineptness and I can't imagine the constant attacks go over too well, when the big wigs get together in the conference room.

Instead of trying to improve their programs, they rather get rid of Leno.

Leno - He is just not a very bright person. I really think he does not really get many of the jokes he tells. If they wrote a joke on the cue cards about Secretary of State Fred Thompson, he would read it with the same delivery as now.

Letterman - Used to be really good, but has grown in the last five to eight years into a one-sided political cheapshot artist. He should understand that Carson did political humor equally at both sides, all in fun, and without an agenda.

O'Brien - One of those Harvard types that thinks he is oh, so, funny. Isn't.

Stewert - See Letterman, above, but without the residual talent.

Kimmel - The next generation's lead guy. Broader appeal than Fallon.

Fallon - Will do well at 11:30, but not as well as Kimmel. Very urban.

...That's important because the value of moving Fallon to 11:35 in 2014 is it would help NBC hold the line against ABC, which has made inroads with viewers age 18 to 49 since moving Jimmy Kimmel into that slot. Like Fallon -- and unlike Leno -- Kimmel has a footprint that goes well beyond his television audience, with a knack for producing videos that go viral on YouTube. (Kimmel's video of parents telling their children they ate all their Halloween candy has gotten more than 25 million views; Fallon's "Evolution of Mom Dancing" video with Michelle Obama has racked up more than 14 million plays in a few days.)

And Kimmel's Q scores are better than either NBC host's: positive Q of 16, negative Q of 22. Could we be looking at the new king of late night?

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The issue not being addressed is will the younger audience watch late night broadcast TV? Or will they find other distractions?

Lordy! Where is taste? It's hard to be pleased with the trend towards crassness in late night TV. It's been downhill since Jack Paar, and accelerating as we near (hopefully we are nearing) the bottom of the pit of boorishness.

I've been watching Letterman though since 1982. I'll admit, however, that even though I still record them all, I typically only watch about 1 per week (good guest, Jack Hannah, stupid pet/human tricks).

phrelin makes a good point--how does all this play with the Millennials? This is a creaky and ancient format from 3 generations ago. It comes off like blackface and baggy pants comedians to Millennials. It's overkill on a grand scale, too many guys doing the exact same thing. It's really just a sleeping pill for the over 50 crowd. Millennials are online or texting or doing the nasty or all 3 after 11pm.

The issue not being addressed is will the younger audience watch late night broadcast TV? Or will they find other distractions?

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Yeah, they're all pretty much recycling the Tonight Show format that's been around for, what, 50 years? I was a bit surprised that Conan didn't try to do something more outside the box when he moved to TBS, but it's just the same old same old.

As I think Mark Evanier pointed out on his blog, whoever is spreading this rumor waited until Leno went on vacation (for a week?) and so couldn't address it right away on his show. The timing suggests this is a negotiation ploy regarding Leno's next contract. I don't watch these shows anymore, and haven't in years; they're just not interesting anymore. Maybe they should bring back the overnight movie.